In the arms of the angels
by mabelreid
Summary: One Shot Song fic of the same title. What if the bar wasn't the first time Reid saw Austin? Spoilers for "Revelations and 52 Pickup."


_**Disclaimer: See my profile**_

**_A/n this takes beginning with the events as I imagine them to have happened after "Revelations," and then jumping to after "52 Pickup." The song lyrics are from Sarah Mclaughlin's "In the arms of the angels." _**

_Spend all your time waiting For that second chance For a break that would make it okay There's always one reason To feel not good enough And its hard at the end of the day I need some distraction Oh beautiful release Memory seeps from my veins Let me be empty And weightless and maybe Ill find some peace tonight_

Why didn't they stay with him? He needed someone there with him. If he was left alone, he would go crazy. He shuddered, unable to get warm beneath the thin blanket they'd given him. The hospital gown he wore didn't help either. He shivered again… The shower he'd taken, refusing the help of a male nurse, hadn't helped him warm up. It didn't matter if his hair was clean but still hopelessly knotted, or if his body was clean. He could still see the track marks on his arms. The doctor said the cravings for the drug would go away. So why did he feel the need to hide the bottles of Dilaudid he taken from Henkel's body, just in case?

Someone should have stayed with him despite what the nurses and doctors wanted. He needed someone to talk to him. He needed someone to tell him that it was okay to feel this way. He needed them to accept him and not judge his weakness. Someone should have stayed so that he'd remember why he didn't need the drugs. Why didn't they stay with him?

So tired of the straight line And everywhere you turn There's vultures and thieves at your back And the storm keeps on twisting You keep on building the lie That you make up for all that you lack It don't make no difference Escaping one last time Its easier to believe in this sweet madness oh This glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

She picked up the coffee pot and poured out the last bit into the paper cup she'd carried around for hours. The family waiting room was empty. It was hours after visiting hours, but her grandmother was dying. She had to stay here because there was no one else. Only she and her grandmother remained of their family, and soon she would be alone.

Her phone rang, the ring tone jarring her fragile feelings loose. Tears ran down her face as she shut off the phone. It didn't matter if she lost her job at the bar. Nothing mattered if her grandmother was gone and she was alone.

She took a sip of the coffee and grimaced at the taste. There was nothing worse than hospital coffee and she'd had too much. Maybe she'd lie down and try to rest. It wouldn't do for her to go see her grandmother in the morning with dark circles under her eyes. Her grandmother would be worried.

_In the arms of an angel Fly away from here From this dark cold hotel room And the endlessness that you fear You are pulled from the wreckage Of your silent reverie You're in the arms of the angel May you find some comfort there_

Austin left her grandmother's room at a near run, crying hard. She didn't see the young man walking slowly along next to an older graying man. She almost knocked him over.

"Hey…"

She looked up and saw big brown eyes that looked as haunted as she felt. He was thin to the point of emaciation and there were deep circles under his eyes. He wore a fraying blue robe over his hospital gown. He leaned on the arm of another man who gave her a tight smile.

"Oh, I'm sorry… I didn't see."

She turned and rushed away from that face and those eyes that seemed to be able to look into the depths of her soul. He looked like he'd seen into the mouth of hell. She couldn't bear to see that in his eyes, or in the eyes of anyone else when she'd just passed into her own hell. Her family was gone and she was alone. Nothing could ever change that.

---

"Hey Sweetheart, when you get a minute."

She looked up from wiping up the bar to meet the eyes of a very good looking black man. He stood next to a man that was familiar to her somehow. She shivered and hoped he didn't see it. What was it about those eyes? She'd seen them somewhere before. She barely heard what he was telling her till he did that neat magic trick and for the first time in two years, she felt genuine happiness and child-like wonder fill her heart. Who was this man?

---

"_Is this your card?" _

"Yeah, it's my card."

"_Cool!"_

His heart had been pulled to her from the first moment he saw her. There was something about her that he couldn't deny. He knew her, or at least his heart knew her. He struggled with it, knowing that there was more than he could remember. He reached back into the memories that he'd avoided from the darkest period of his life and pulled out her face. The hospital after killing Tobias Henkel, that's where he'd seen her. She'd been so unhappy, but something had tugged at him anyway. He'd forgotten it in the haze of drugs and self pity. What force had brought them together again? Was it fate, or luck, or destiny? He decided it didn't matter, for once in his life; he ignored his logical brain that told him that there was no such thing as love at first sight. This was more than some romantic notion. This was the one thing in his life that he'd been missing. For once in his life, he wasn't going to mess it up.

_In the arms of an angel,Fly away from here From this dark cold hotel roomAnd the endlessness that you fear You are pulled from the wreckage Of your silent reverie You're in the arms of the angel May you find some comfort there_


End file.
